Safety door holder and closer



Sept. 5, 1933. U 1,925,387

SAFETY DOOR HOLDER AND CLOSER Filed Oct. 27, 1932 mummy,

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7 BY 26 Z ATTORNEYE Patented Sept. 5, 1933 PATENT OFFICE SAFETY DOOR HOLDER AND CLOSER Norman B. Hurd, Newington, Conn., assignor to The American Hardware Corporation, New Britain, Cnn., a corporation of Connecticut Application October 27, 1932. Serial No. 639,812

8 Claims. (Cl. 189-49) My invention relates to a door controlling mechanism, the object being to provide an efficient means whereby the door may be held ajar at any desired angle and yet be instantly released and mechanically closed in the event of fire.

The object of my invention is to provide a thoroughly dependable, emcient and simple mechanism involving the use of a fusible element so positioned that it will be instantly melted by such a change in temperature as would occur in the case of fire in the locality of the door, whereupon the mechanical door closer will at once shut the door.

In the accompanying drawing Fig. 1 is a plan View on a reduced scale showing'my invention as applied to a door, the latter being shown as closed;

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the door opened to a position in which the holder is operating'to hold thedoor in that position, the dotted lines indicating one of the positions of the mechanism as'the door is being closed;

Fig. 3 is a relatively enlarged view of certain parts in the same position as shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an edge elevation of certain. parts, said View being partly in section.

1 represents one side of a door casing, 2 a door, and 3 an overhead part of the door casing. 4 represents conventionally a mechanical door check and closer, the same being attached to the door near its upper edge. 5 is a lever or closer arm fixed on the closer shaft 6 and provided at its free end with a bearing ring 7 in which is freely mounted the central hub on the lower side .35 of a friction head 9, which ring is held in place by a washer 10. 11 is a link which is pivotally connected at one end to the overhead door casing as at 12. 13 is a wedge ringat the outer end of the link 11 which pivots on a hub 8 on the upper side 0 of the friction head 9 in line with hub 8. 14 is another friction head which is located above the wedge ring 13. freely through the head 14 eccentrically and may V screw through the hubs 8--8 eccentrically thereof so that the position of the bolt head will determine the degree of spread between the friction heads 9-14. The head 14 cannot turn relatively to the head 9, being held against such movement ,v by any suitable means such as a key 16 and the eccentrically positioned bolt 15. 19 is a short arm extending from the edge of the friction head 9 and overlapping the closer arm 5. The free end of the arm 19 normally bears against a back stop 20 on the arm 5. 21 is an upstanding lug on the arm "19. 22 is a tripper pivoted at 22' on the arm 5.

15 is a bolt. This bolt passes 23 is a lug on the tripper which normally stands in front of the lug 21 so as to normally hold the arms 519 against independent relative movement. 24 is a lug on the free end of the tripper.

25 is alatch pivoted at 25' on the arm 5. 26 is a lug standing in front of the tripper lug 24 when the arms 5 and 19 are to be locked together. 27

is a bell crank pivoted at 28 on the arm 19. '29

is a short link pivoted on the end of the latch 25 and having a hooked end. 30 is a similar link pivoted on the free end of the outer arm of the bell crank. 31 is a strip or link of fusible mate.- rial which preferably has holes at its ends into which the hooked links 2930 may engage. 32 is a spring pressing against the bell crank 27 to exert slight tension on the fuse strip 31 to hold it in place and through the medium of which the latch 25 and the tripper 22 are held in place to thereby lock the arms 5 and 19 together. When the fuse 31 is ruptured by heat, the latch and tripper are released, thereby freeing the connection between the arms 5 and 19, whereupon the former, being a freely pivoted on the hub 8, may at once operate to perform its door closing function, even though the wedge ring 13 still remains friction tight be- 30 tween the heads 9-44. To restore the parts for door holding purposes, the same are replaced in the position shown in Fig. 3 and a new fuse 31 is inserted. By this means no special construction is necessary to cause the separation of the wedge ring and the friction heads, which, if they failed to separate and if the closing of the door depended thereon, would result in the failure of the closer to act to shut the door. This dangerous possibility is avoided by having the closer to arm 5 turn freely on its pivotal support so that the instant the fuse melts releasing the latch and tripper, said closer arm will quickly and surely function to shut the door.

I claim:

1. In a door holder and closer, two spaced friction heads, an adjusting bolt connecting said heads, a wedge ring rotatable between said heads and eccentrically to said bolt, a link connected to said wedge ring, a closer arm pivotally connected to one of said heads, and a fuse controlled means which prevents said closer arm from pivoting thereon when the fuse is intact.

2. In a door holder and closer, two spaced friction heads, an adjusting bolt connecting said 1 heads, a wedge ring rotatable between said heads and eccentrically to said bolt, a link connected to said wedge ring, a closer arm pivotally connected to one of said heads, and a fuse controlled means which prevents said closer arm from pivoting thereon when the fuse is intact, said fuse controlled means including an arm projecting from the head on which said closer arm is pivoted, with connecting means to hold said arms against independent relative movement.

3. In a door holder and closer, two spaced friction heads, an adjusting bolt connecting said heads, a wedge ring rotatable between said heads and eccentrically to said bolt, a link connected to said wedge ring, a closer arm pivotally connected to one of said heads, and a fuse controlled means which prevents said closer arm from pivoting thereon when the fuse is intact, said fuse controlled means including an arm projecting from the head on which said closer arm is pivoted, with connecting means to hold said arms against independent relative movement, said connecting means comprising a tripper carried by one arm and hooked onto the other arm.

l. In a door holder and closer, two spaced friction heads, an adjusting bolt connecting said heads, a wedge ring rotatable between said heads and eccentrically to said bolt, a link connected to said wedge ring, a closer arm pivotally connected to one of said heads, a fuse controlled means which prevents said closer arm from phi-- oting thereon when the fuse is intact, said fuse controlled means including an arm projecting from the head on which said closer arm is pivoted, with connecting means to hold said arms against independent relative movement, said connecting means comprising a tripper carried by one arm and hooked onto the other arm, and a tilting latch for holding said tripper, said fuse holding said latch.

5. In a door holder and closer, a pair of spaced rotatable friction heads with a bolt connecting the same to determine the limit of spread between the same, means to prevent said heads from independent relative rotation, a wedge ring rotatable between said heads and eccentrically around said connecting bolt, an arm connected to said heads to rotate the same together, a link connected to said ring to rotate the same relatively to said heads, and a second arm pivotally connected to said link through the medium of said heads and ring, and fuse releasable means connecting both of said arms only while said fuse is intact.

6. In a door holder and closer, a closer arm,

a closer link pivoted thereon, frictional meansv around the pivotal connection between said arm and link whereby the same may be held against movement when they are swung apart at a predetermined angle, means to free the closer arm from said frictional means to permit it to pivot freely on the link to close the door, and a fuse to control when intact said last mentioned means.

7. In a door holder and closer, two spaced annular friction heads, an adjusting bolt eccentrically connecting said heads, awedge ring concentrically rotatable between said heads and interengageable therewith, a link connected to said wedge ring, a closer arm pivotally connected at one end to one of said heads, and a fuse controlled to lock said closer arm to said head against pivoting thereon when the fuse is intact.

8. In a door holder and closer, two spaced annular friction heads, an intervening wedge ring rotatable between said heads and interengageable therewith, an adjusting bolt passing eccentrically through said heads and ring to determine the spacing of said heads, a link connected to said wedge ring, a closer arm rotatably connected with one of said friction heads, a look when in locking position preventing said link from rotating relatively to said head, and a fuse for holding said lock in looking position while said fuse is intact.

NORMAN B. HURD.

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